CELS News Article
Fall, 2006
CELS Assoc. Dean Dennis Nixon drafts international oceanographic
code of conduct
By: Rudi Hempe, CELS News Editor and Reporter
---------------------------------------------------------Dennis Nixon, CELS Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, wears a number of
hats at the college, and next fall he could very well be wearing one emblazoned
with Chinese symbols as he travels to that country to deliver legal advice and a
code of conduct to the world’s oceanographic vessel operators.
Nixon, a well-published lawyer who specializes in marine science research, is
quite used to traveling—his work has taken him to six continents over the last 20
years.
During those two decades, he has served as marine law advisor and risk
manager for the University Ocean Laboratory System which was set up to
provide some coordination among U.S. ocean research vessels.
Back in the 1960s most universities that had an oceanography program had use
of a ship—URI’s was the Trident. The National Science Foundation paid up to 85
percent of the ships’ fuel bills to foster the research.
But there were inefficiencies. It was not uncommon for these research vessels to
sail hundreds of “deadhead” miles from research site to research site to fill the
requests of scientists.
"For example, some scientists would go on a trip to the Caribbean and then
someone else would want to go to Newfoundland. Often the system would lead
to deadhead trips," says Nixon.
“This was costing the NSF a lot of money,” he adds. Thus the University Ocean
Laboratory System (UNOLS) was set up to make more efficient use of the
research ships. In the above instance, the scientist who wanted to go to
Newfoundland would go the system and find out whether there were other
research vessels with the appropriate gear who were already there or who have
plans to go there.
The system was later expanded to group purchasing of gear to save money, and
uniform safety standards to improve fleet performance.
With his law background, Nixon was called upon frequently to address maritime
law issues such as who has the right to do research off certain coasts. There
were biological and geophysical issues that came up—for example those
searching for oil and gas deposits often used explosives, posing potential threats
to marine mammals.
There were also embarrassing incidents, he says, such as when a University of
Miami research vessel studying reefs ran into one and polluted it with oil and
sewage.
After several years of providing free advice for federal funding agencies and the
vessel operators, Nixon approached the NSF and suggested the agency pay a
percentage of his salary for his legal advice services and it agreed.
“I figure what they pay me is equivalent to the cost of operating one small ship
one day,” he says noting that depending on their size, research ships cost
between $15,000 and $30,000 a day to operate. Research vessels come in three
classes. There are the small regional ships which pretty much hug the coastlines.
There are intermediate ones, up to 220 feet long such as URI’s Endeavor which
mostly stays in the Atlantic and then there are global ships starting at 272 feet
and up.
Nixon has a number of topics to address at next fall’s meeting of the International
Ship Operators Meeting, including an update on marine insurance market. “I
think I helped saved the U.S. fleet millions over the years by placing their
insurance properly,” he says.
He will also talk about recent legal developments that affect research vessel
operations.
A major issue this past year, he says, comes from the International Maritime
Organization, (IMO) a group affiliated with the UN, which has issued an
emergency notice regarding lifeboat testing.
“Lifeboats are intended to save lives but there is an amazing amount of injuries
and even deaths when crews lower fully loaded lifeboats during a test,” says
Nixon.
The new procedure that is being ordered for lifeboat testing is to load the people
in the boats, then get them out and then lower the boats, he explains.
The IMO also has new minimum requirements on lifeboat designs, he says.
Other legal issues are more pertinent to research vessels that some critics
complain can impact the very environment they are studying.
For example, research vessels use high frequency sonar, air guns and can
pollute with stack emissions, sewage and gray water.
As a result there is a need for an international code of conduct, says Nixon and
his new job, in concert with colleagues in the UK and Ireland, is to draft such a
code for presentation at the China meeting.
“It’s a load of fun to get to write what amounts to be an international treaty,” says
Nixon.
He cites an example of the pressure of research on the environment. “Take
smoke vents,” he says referring to the columnar structures that form at the edges
of tectonic plates deep in the sea. They take eons to form and nurture exotic sea
life. Scientists can use robotic devices to break them off and bring them to the
surface. “Every scientist wants one to study but do they all need one?” he asks
noting that harvested smoke vents are probably already stored at many
universities.
The code of conduct he will help write will be no easy task, he says, stressing
that the document “must respect all international sensitivities.
But he is looking forward to it. “In 30 years here at URI, it’s one of the most
exciting things I have ever done.”